Heart'n'Soul

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thunder from down under - I

Hullllloooooooooooo!!! to the bolg and the readers....

Greetings from Colombo... it’s 19th July, 2010 and I am sleepy and tired and I want to make sure I put it on my blog...hehehe! And for those of you who know me would have understood the context for the title of this blog. Just cudn't help naming it this ways!!!

Ok so here I am in a small city in a new type of "Pardes" - unlike bollywood where it only means USA... and recently in some exception cases UK and Australia(strictly exceptions)

The apartment here is good... fully furnished, spacious, good decor and one thing I love and would want in my house as well... the sliding door/window overlooking a great view. The clouds, the breeze and the drizzle that stopped before I was supposed to leave for work pretty much made up for a good start for the day ahead.

Colombo on first look seems like a mixture of Chennai and Goa... and I haven’t seen the beaches as yet so it’s just the architecture, colors, dressing, roads, shops and all that. The weather as of now is nice; clouds are around the corner all the time. But the pollution is not such a welcoming factor, especially when one is travelling in a tuktuk instead of the comfort of my "Lal Pari". Oh BTW, tuktuk means our standard auto in Delhi and Mumbai :D

I am still to understand the color coding that these tuktuks have - red, blue, green, yellow etc... but it costs 200 bucks to my office. Have learnt that in INR it means just 80 bucks, which is a short distance travel in Delhi but it sounded like a BOMB for an auto vis-a-vi the distance.... but well, like they say - when in Rome do as Romans do... so 200 SLR it is.

The vending machines and water coolers do not have glasses here and there is no CCD or Barista... which means no coffee for a while - till I either find a good cafe or buy myself a sipper. AND... till then I will die of this headache from lack of coffee. On top of it my hair is misbehaving and this is an understatement... but considering the humidity factor, maybe I can let it go. Hoping that it would settle down soon!!

The interesting thing I noticed is that here everyone uses glass bottles to store and drink water... and well, i said interesting cuz they are mostly alcohol bottles. I think it’s very amusing and scientifically safe at the same time ;D

Internet has not been setup as yet so I am right now just typing stuff on MSWord, probably will be posting it tomorrow, once the Internet is setup for me and if the BlogSpot is not blocked... else whenever.

Also, how can I forget to mention this when I am writing bout today, it’s an important important day .... two of my closest buddies were born today, more than 2 decades back... HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS... this is for Shaifali and Neha... Love you my babies!

More from the Colombo later, back to documents, meetings, calls and more documents for now!

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posted by Heart'n'Soul at 2:04 PM 4 comments

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

For Now and Forever - VI

AS GOOD AS IT GETS

Josh sat on his desk looking through a plethora of flower arrangements. Nothing appealed to him. Nothing seemed good enough to match up to Grace. Nothing was special enough.

“Finally …. something she would love. Or is there something better I can do for her?” He thought.

He sat there staring at the screen... Pay or Cancel... Cancel or Pay

Grace looked at her cup intently, focusing on the remains of her coffee, wondering if she would ever learn to read the future in it. She had tried several websites and books but all in vain.

As the clouds roared in the background, she thought to herself "It’s going to rain, but I can’t see any clouds in here for sure."

She concentrated harder and could make out a man, or a car or….. After spending a few more minutes with her cup, she decided that it was just a white mug with a coffee stain - the one that needs to be washed.

A sudden knock on the door busted her concentration.

"Coming" she shouted. She placed the coffee mug on the table and ran to the door.

Knock Knock

"I said I am coming!" she frowned

She opened the door to a crisply dressed middle aged man with flowers in his hand and a lovely black limousine in the background.

"Miss. Grace" the man smiled, handing her the flowers and a small note.

Delighted with herself at finally being able to successfully comprehend the coffee stain, she hurriedly opened the letter.

Hi Hun

No questions - Just get ready and get in the car.

Love
Josh

Grace smiled at the man and asked "What’s your name?"

"I'm Joe"

"Thanks Joe, I will be out soon!"

Half an hour later, Grace stepped out of her door. Dressed in Josh's favorite dress, she looked like an angel draped in red.

Grace called out "Joe, Thanks for waiting", covering her head with her purse as the blues and grays of the sky begun spraying the first shower of the season.

Joe opened the rear door for her as she ran towards the car.

She entered the car and to her surprise, she found Josh there waiting for her. She beamed at him.

"So?" she asked as her eyes lit up with amusement

"I said no questions, didn’t I?"

"But..."

"Shhhhhh.... Is it just you or all girls are like this?"

"What?"

"See... another question"

And they burst out laughing...

The tip tap of the rain grew louder. Grace looked outside and then looked at Josh grinning widely with sheer joy exuding through her expressions.

"You love rains don’t you?" Josh said

"Yes! It’s the best" she said bursting with exhilaration

Josh laughed as Grace giggled like a school girl.

“Joe, stop the car.” Josh said

"Are we there?" Grace questioned

"What did I tell you?" Josh questioned her back

"No questions!" she frowned

Josh removed his shoes, opened the door and stepped out. He came to Grace's side and opened the door, extending his hand for her.

"Take off your shoes"

"Bu..." she left the word hanging in the air, removed her shoes and held his hand to step out.

The rain fell like a thousand sprinklers upside down.

"Let’s walk" he said and led her to the adjoining park. She followed.

"Josh... check this out"

She jumped in a puddle of water "Woooooo!"

"Ah! You are such a kid" and Josh followed.

They put their arms around each other and walked on the wet grass talking, laughing, playing and jumping in the water puddle whenever one came in the way.

The hues of green looked splendid - fresh and laden with drops of water.

He let go of her hand as she raised her head to face the sky and extended her arms, her palms reaching out for the drops of heaven that kissed her skin tenderly.



"I saw her sitting in the rain, raindrops falling on her.”

Surprised, Grace turned around, smiling from ear to ear.

"She didn't seem to care. She sat there and smiled at me." Josh continued singing as he walked towards her

He took her left hand and placed it on his right shoulder. Placing his right hand on her waist, he swirled her around in a circle.

"And I knew - I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew
She could make me happy - happy, happy"

Swinging from right to left, from left to right, he went on…

"Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere.
I love the flower girl, oh, I don't know just why. She simply caught my eye.”

He pulled her closer and swayed gently from side to side as she joined him and sang.

“I love the flower girl, she seemed so sweet and kind. She crept into my mind. "

“Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere.
I love the flower girl, oh, I don't know just why. She simply caught my eye.
I love the flower girl; she seemed so sweet and kind. She crept into my mind."

Josh hugged her, enveloping her snugly in his arms “Hun, You are a terrible singer." Josh murmured

"Ummm... I know" Grace said tucked securely in his embrace "And you are a terrible dancer"

"What?" Josh said

"No questions Mister... remember?"

They both looked at each other explodeing in a loud chortle. They walked back to the car, drenched in rain, water dripping from their hair and clothes.

"I'm hungry" Grace said making a sad face...

"Well, if they will let us in, we maybe able to get back on track with the original plan!"

Josh asked Joe to take them to the restaurant as they settled in their seats.

"Josh..." Grace said "Thanks for this. It couldn’t have been better"

"Don’t thank me, I didn't order the rains!"

"But it wasn’t the rains..." She looked at him affectionately "It was you. The rains will never be the same again" she said with a warm smile.

He took her face in his palms and kissed her gently - "Happy Birthday Hun!"... So gentle and so loving, it made her insides melt... It didn’t feel right... it felt perfect!

The radio crackled in the background

"Suddenly the sun broke through (see the sun)."

Josh continued staring at the screen... Pay or Cancel... Cancel or Pay

"I turned around she was gone (where did she go).
And all I had left was one little flower from her hair."

He clicked on cancel as the music filled the room

"But I knew (I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew), she had made me happy (happy, happy).”

The sound of her sweet voice filled his memory as her words echoed in his mind - The rains will never be the same again.

Indeed… NEVER…


___________________________________________________________

More from the series - For Now and Forever:
For Now and Forever - I: If Only...
For Now and Forever - II: PS: I Love You
For Now and Forever - III: You've Got Mail
For Now and Forever - IV: Shall We Dance
For Now and Forever - V: A Lot Like Love
For Now and Forever - VI: As Good As It Gets
For Now and Forever - VII: Gone With The Wind
For Now and Forever - VIII: Message In A Bottle
posted by Heart'n'Soul at 6:01 PM 5 comments